Lessons from Comparative Science Policy Research (<Special Reports>"Research Crisis at Japanese Universities")

Abstract

Talk Session C was aimed to discuss problems related to R&D in Japanese universities and potential solutions. The following members joined this session: Sususmu Inui, Professor, Nagaoka University of Technology Atsunobu Ichikawa, Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology Shun'ichi Tsuge, Professor, Tsukuba University Ryo Hirasawa, Professor, the University of Tokyo. In the beginning, Inui showed some data of the present state and problems of universities in Japan. The research expenditure per university researcher in Japan is about half as much as that in the leading countries. The extent of the university research expenditure funded by the government in Japan is also less than that of the leading countries, and the increase in the research expenditure of universities is less than that of other sectors in Japan. Kakenhi, which is one of the main sources of research expenditure of universities in Japan, is rather small compared with NSF grant and other investors in university research have been limited. The average of the age of the teaching and research staffs in universities has also been increasing. Finally, although the number of scientific papers is increasing in proportion to GNP, the quality does not seem to be up to the international level yet. In the faculties of the universities, only engineering has comparable institutions in other sectors of the economy. The relative problems of the research level of universities, therefore, occurs mainly in engineering research. With regard to funds and human resources, universities are no match for the private sector. University staffs have still kept their role of arranging scientific societies and promoting technological development, so they have partly decided the direction of technological development in Japan. However, as firms also foster research because of a low expectation of the role of the university, their basic research laboratories are increasingly active. As a result, it firms have also come to play an important role in science and education. Universities in Japan do not have a system which makes productive use of post-doctoral researchers. In addition, they have not yet established a Ph. D. course system in which a student is trained to be independent as a researcher. Universities consider all studies in the humanities are the social sciences to be theology because they mainly examination previous papers. In these fields, scientific research which society requires has yet to be developd. However, even the natural sciences started like theology. This is still reflected the Japanese educational system which is based on knowledge introduced from other countries. Ideally, research activities should start first, then graduate courses which aim to foster the researcher should be established, and organized education through undergraduate courses should follow. The restructuring of universities is not progressing. This is partly because the Ministry of Education regard university as only an educational institution, even though the university staffs are evaluated only through their research products. This is also partly because in universities, the staff has power, and personnel affairs can change only if all the staff has the same opinion. This is aggregated by the reality that mobility between universities is low. About ninety percent of the staffs in the University of Tokyo and the University of Kyoto have also graduated from those schools. It is a characteristic of Japanese engineering education that it mainly deals with the fundamental level of subjects. It was suggested that most of the staff should conduct both research and teaching, with a specialization in either still permitted. The work of the staff would then be evaluated by its content, that is, teaching should also be included in the evaluation system of university staff. In Japan, it is difficult for university researchers to cooperate in research with those in other institutes. In Tsukuba area